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1 – 10 of over 18000Fabrizia Sarto, Sara Saggese, Riccardo Viganò and Marianna Mauro
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the implications of board human capital heterogeneity for company innovation by focusing on the educational and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the implications of board human capital heterogeneity for company innovation by focusing on the educational and the functional background of directors. Moreover, it examines the moderating effect of the CEO expertise-overlap within the innovation domain on the relationship between board human capital heterogeneity and firm innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses are tested through a set of ordinary least squares regressions on a unique dataset of 149 Italian high-tech companies observed between 2012 and 2015.
Findings
Findings show that the educational and the functional background heterogeneity of directors increase both the innovation input and output. However, results highlight that these relationships are negatively moderated by the CEO expertise-overlap within the innovation domain.
Practical implications
The paper emphasizes the importance of appointing directors with different and specific educational and functional backgrounds to foster the company innovation.
Originality/value
The paper fills a gap in the literature as it has devoted limited attention to the performance implications of board human capital heterogeneity in the high-tech industry where knowledge and skills are the primary sources of value. Moreover, the paper integrates the research on the CEO-board interface by shedding light on how the CEO expertise within the innovation domain affects the contribution of heterogeneous boards to company innovation.
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Abstract
Purpose
Focusing on the important representative of firm intellectual capital (IC), this research explores the effects of chief executive officer’s (CEOs') managerial human capitals on sustaining superior performance in Chinese transition economy to prove the dynamic and strategic value of IC and fulfill the gap of lacking emerging market studies in this research field.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on dynamic managerial capability theoretical framework, the authors propose a dynamic management path to analyze the influencing mechanism of CEOs' managerial human capitals to firm performance persistence and the moderating effect of environment uncertainty. Using a panel data of Chinese publicly listed firms from 2008 to 2017, it adopts dynamic first-order autoregressive models to examine these hypotheses. Several tests are conducted to further analyze and ensure that the results are robust and reliable.
Findings
These managerial human capitals reveal heterogenous impacts on sustaining superior performance, and environment uncertainty is a valid moderating variable to further distinguish their dynamic values. The supplementary analyses show the integrating effect of an MBA degree and output functional experience is positive and significant, and the results in Chinese state-owned and private firm subsamples are distinct.
Practical implications
It is beneficial for corporate stakeholders to judge and select CEOs and for policymakers to improve the efficiency advantage of IC in Chinese emerging market.
Originality/value
This study first explores the relationship between CEOs' managerial human capitals and superior performance persistence. Through introducing a dynamic perspective, it has extended existing performance persistence research into individual level and provided a new intellectual source of sustainable competitive advantages.
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Maria Rita Blanco, Miguel Angel Sastre-Castillo and Maria Angeles Montoro-Sanchez
This article explores the influence of education and experience on the time to the top in family and non-family CEOs who work for Latin American family firms.
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores the influence of education and experience on the time to the top in family and non-family CEOs who work for Latin American family firms.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to achieve these objectives, this study draws upon human capital theory as well as career and family firm literature. The careers of 129 CEOs of family firms who form part of the América Economía ranking were analyzed and quantitative methods were used.
Findings
In Latin American family firms, family CEOs reach the top faster than their non-family counterparts. In addition, the influence of human capital variables on the way to the top differs between the two groups. For family CEOs, obtaining a graduate degree delays the way to the top, while for non-family ones, it reduces the time to the top. As regards experience, for promoted family CEOs, the greater the percentage of the career spent in the organization they lead, the shorter the time to the top. No support was found for either the influence of having worked for just one firm or having had elite graduate education abroad, in multilatina CEOs.
Practical implications
Individual career management suggestions for future CEOs as well as specific guidelines for talent managers are proposed
Originality/value
This is the first study to explore the influence of human capital indicators on the time to the top in Latin American family firm CEOs.
Propósito
Este artículo explora la influencia de la educación y la experiencia sobre el “time to the top” de los Gerentes Generales, miembros de la familia y no miembros, quienes trabajan para empresas familiares latinoamericanas.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
Para lograr estos objetivos, este estudio se basa en la teoría de capital humano y la literatura sobre carreras y empresas familiares. Fueron analizadas las carreras de 129 Gerentes Generales de empresas familiares, integrantes del ranking América Economía, y se utilizaron métodos cuantitativos.
Resultados
En las empresas familiares latinoamericanas, los Gerentes Generales miembros de la familia llegan más rápido a la cima que los no miembros, y la influencia de las variables de capital humano en el “time to the top” difiere entre ambos grupos. Para los Gerentes Generales familiares, los estudios de posgrado retrasan el “time to the top”, mientras que, para los no familiares, lo reducen. En cuanto a la experiencia, para los Gerentes Generales que han sido promovidos, cuanto mayor es el porcentaje de carrera invertido en la organización, menor es el “time to the top”. No se obtuvo respaldo para las hipótesis sobre la influencia de trabajar en única firma o el posgrado de élite en el extranjero, en este último caso para los Gerentes Generales de multilatinas.
Implicancias prácticas
Se ofrecen sugerencias de gestión de carrera a nivel individual para futuros ejecutivos, así como lineamientos para los gerentes de talento.
Originalidad/valor
Este es el primer estudio que explora la influencia de los indicadores de capital humano sobre el “time to the top” de Gerentes Generales de empresas familiares latinoamericanas.
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Vincenzo Scafarto and Panagiotis Dimitropoulos
The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between human capital investments and financial performance in the professional football industry. The authors…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between human capital investments and financial performance in the professional football industry. The authors examine this association by controlling for internal (club-level) mechanisms of governance. Specifically, as they deal with a context of highly concentrated ownership and familial control of football clubs, they posit that the degree of family board representation and a dual leadership structure exert a moderating effect on the decision to spend on playing talent.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical analysis employs a fixed-effect econometric model on a panel data set of 16 Italian football clubs that spans a nine-year time period ending up with 144 firm-year observations.
Findings
The main novel finding of this investigation is that clubs with CEO duality and a high degree of family board representation manage to profit from investments in player contracts as opposed to clubs which lack these governance mechanisms.
Research limitations/implications
A clear implication is that the presence of corporate governance mechanisms at club level may be value-enhancing. In terms of policy direction, the finding makes the case that regulatory bodies should consider the imposition of governance mechanisms at club level as a means to promote actual financial discipline and a further ally to current regulations that are restricted to monitoring processes tied to accounting data.
Originality/value
This study attempts to explain the financial outcomes of player investments by combining insights from the mainstream governance and family business literature. Prior works in the field are restricted to testing the direct relation between player investments and performance, but fail to consider the potential moderators of this association.
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Christopher M. Harris and Lee Warren Brown
While research has shown that multiple actors, both internal and external to the organization, influence performance, oftentimes, these actors are studied in isolation. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
While research has shown that multiple actors, both internal and external to the organization, influence performance, oftentimes, these actors are studied in isolation. This paper aims to examine the performance implications of both top management team (TMT) and chief executive officer (CEO) human capital. In addition, the authors consider external actors' influence on performance by examining corporate political activity (CPA).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a sample of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football teams, examining human capital data on the head coaches and the assistant coaches, combined with the schools' participation in NCAA football committees.
Findings
The study findings indicate that organizations engage in various market and nonmarket strategies in concert, and that different strategies result in performance outcome differences. Specifically, we examine how the use of CEO and TMT human capital and CPA interact and influence performance.
Practical implications
The authors examine the moderating effects of political activity on the human capital–performance relationship for both top leaders and TMTs. Organizations benefit from investing in the human capital of their leaders internally and CPA externally.
Originality/value
While organizations engage in market and nonmarket actions in concert, management research has generally studied these concepts in isolation. This paper suggests that both market and nonmarket activities can influence performance.
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Elisabeth Albertini, Fabienne Berger-Remy, Stephane Lefrancq, Laurence Morgana, Miloš Petković and Elisabeth Walliser
This research aims to contribute to the current discussion led by international accounting bodies on intellectual capital narratives. Before setting a standard, a preliminary step…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to contribute to the current discussion led by international accounting bodies on intellectual capital narratives. Before setting a standard, a preliminary step is to highlight intellectual capital components' sources of value. The objective of this exploratory paper is to contribute to the discussion by proposing a detailed description and taxonomy of intellectual capital based on an analysis of discretionary accounting narrative disclosures in CEO letters.
Design/methodology/approach
To answer the research question, a computerised lexical content analysis was done of 241 letters from the CEOs of S&P Euro 350 companies addressed to shareholders.
Findings
Beyond the required disclosures about balance sheet intangibles, this study brings to light discretionary narratives about human, digital, customer and environmental capital and their interactions. In particular, CEOs are promoting two new themes, environmental capital and digital capital, as major contributors to value creation.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of this study are inherent in the media studied, namely the CEOs' letters to shareholders, which were written as part of the firms' official communication.
Practical implications
The main contribution of the research is a detailed description of the intellectual capital components that CEOs consider to be at the heart of their companies' models to create value. Human and customer capital were already familiar under the previous classification, but CEOs present digital and environmental capital as areas of opportunity or risk in their discretionary narratives.
Originality/value
The article contributes to the current international discussions on intellectual capital by focusing on discretionary accounting narratives. It seeks to provide guidelines concerning future standards in the current stage of intellectual capital research.
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Matthias Kiefer, Edward A.E. Jones and Andrew T. Adams
Shareholders and managers can work in a hierarchy in which principals attempt to control the actions of agents to achieve the wealth objective. Alternatively, shareholders and…
Abstract
Purpose
Shareholders and managers can work in a hierarchy in which principals attempt to control the actions of agents to achieve the wealth objective. Alternatively, shareholders and managers can work together as a cooperative team in which shareholders provide financial capital and managers provide human capital. The authors aim to examine the different implications for value creation provided by the two approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
By comparing the literature on the value implications of the incomplete contracting framework and control arrangements in principal-agent hierarchies, the authors identify deviations from optimal outcomes and suggest solutions.
Findings
The review indicates that a cooperative framework has some advantages over the hierarchical model. The stability of human capital and the relationship between managers and shareholders can be enhanced when shareholders provide capital in increments which vest over time and latitude for renegotiation of agreements is built into contracts.
Practical implications
By surrendering control using stock options programmes, managers are free to invest in relationship-specific assets. Shareholders can control the provision of capital by withdrawing investment if insufficient returns are realized, i.e. if stock options do not meet vesting requirements. The market can then be left to do its work.
Originality/value
This paper provides an original review of literature on cooperation and hierarchies in the shareholder–manager relationship and proposes solutions to identified deviations from optimal outcomes.
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Fabrizia Sarto and Sara Saggese
The study empirically investigates whether the board of directors' expertise in the focal firm's industry has implications for innovation input. Additionally, it explores how this…
Abstract
Purpose
The study empirically investigates whether the board of directors' expertise in the focal firm's industry has implications for innovation input. Additionally, it explores how this relationship is shaped by the CEO's educational level and background in the technology area.
Design/methodology/approach
The article tests the hypothesized relationships through the Arellano–Bond generalized method of moment estimators, proxying innovation input by R&D to total sales. Moreover, it analyses a sample of privately-held Italian medium and large high-tech companies observed over four years by relying on a unique hand-collected dataset.
Findings
The research documents an inverted U-shaped relationship between board industry expertise and innovation input and shows that such curvilinear effect is moderated by the CEO's educational level and technology background. Specifically, while the curvilinear slope is less steep for highly educated CEO, it becomes steeper in the presence of technology trained CEO.
Practical implications
The paper recommends how to shape the board human capital as a meaningful driver of board effectiveness and innovation. Additionally, it calls the managerial attention towards the interaction and the interplay between board industry expertise and CEO education as able to influence the above-mentioned outcome.
Originality/value
While previous studies have focused on the linear and positive effect of board industry expertise on innovation, this research advances current knowledge in innovation management literature by testing the presence of a curvilinear relationship. Moreover, by exploring the moderating effect of CEO education, the paper provides a comprehensive picture on the interplay among board industry expertise, CEO educational training and innovation input.
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Maria Rita Blanco and Miguel Angel Sastre Castillo
This study investigates the influence of experience – organisational tenure, international experience and springboard role – upon Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) time to the top…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the influence of experience – organisational tenure, international experience and springboard role – upon Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) time to the top and the time taken by CEOs to reach that position. As work and careers are embedded in economic and institutional environments, although prior Western career studies have explored this relationship, this study aims to determine the suitability of experience as a human capital attribute to explain CEO career success in Latin American firms.
Design/methodology/approach
169 Latin American firms were considered (America Economia, 2014). Biographical data about CEOs were manually collected and systematically crosschecked, and multiple hierarchical regressions were employed.
Findings
Organisational tenure and lifetime experience were found to reduce the time to the top. International experience delays the time to the top. International assignments closer to HQ do not exert an influence on time to the top. In multilatinas, promoted CEOs who have held Corporate springboard roles get faster to the top than those having held Divisional positions. Findings offer partial support to the human capital theory experience in Latin America, stressing the relevance of cultural, socio-economic and institutional factors.
Practical implications
The identification of career success predictors may enhance the career decision-making processes of individuals and organisations.
Originality/value
This study contributes to human capital and career literature, being the first one to explore the relationship between experience and time to the top in CEOs working for Latin American firms.
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Preeti Wadhwa, Marleen McCormick and Martina Musteen
This paper aims to examine the impact of human and social capital of CEOs of internationally active small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic on their…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impact of human and social capital of CEOs of internationally active small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic on their firms’ approach to technological innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The study sample was drawn from data collected from the population of Czech manufacturing firms. The final sample included 153 SMEs that met the criteria for inclusion in the study. The authors employed robust regression analysis to test their specific hypotheses.
Findings
This study found that human capital (in the form of CEOs’ professional background and foreign customer knowledge) and social capital (conceptualized as embeddedness in the international markets) of CEOs in the Czech Republic impacted their firms’ approach to technological innovation. Specifically, firms headed by CEOs with professional background in output functions (R&D and marketing) are more likely to invest in technological innovation. The same was found true for firms led by CEOs who possessed a strong knowledge of international customers and were socially embedded in international markets.
Originality/value
This study makes a twofold contribution to the extant literature. First, it develops and tests the theoretical link between human and social capital and technological innovation among internationally active firms. Second, it highlights factors that positively influence technological innovation in the context of a small Central European economy, a setting that has been generally viewed as unfavorable to such innovation.
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